Ezekiel 37:1-14
| There are four great visions in Ezekiel: a) the call vision in chs. 1-3; b) the vision of the corruption of the temple and its destruction in chs. 8-11; c) the vision of the valley of the dry bones in 37:1-14; d) the vision of the restored land and temple in chs. 40-48. |
| It is generally agreed that the resurrection motif in Ezekiel 37 deals not with individual resurrection of dead persons, but with the recreation and reconstitution of Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the exile to Babylon. The pericope speaks of creation, resurrection, and Exodus (bringing up from graves leads to bringing back to the land)--all of which can only be accomplished by divine intervention. |
| There are three uses of the recognition formula (You shall know that I am Yahweh) in this passage--vv 6, 13, 14. The ultimate purpose of divine actions in Ezekiel is not just judgment or not even deliverance, but that those who experience these events will come to know and acknowledge Yahweh. |
| The bones in the valley were both many and dry--the destruction was widespread and Israel was indeed "dead." Although the bones, sinews, and flesh come together, there was no breath in them. This distinction between making the body and breathing life into it recalls the creation account in Genesis 2. God's presence is shown by the rattling earthquake (a typical accompanying phenomenon with theophany) and the breath or spirit of God. |
| This pericope comes in response to the people's complaint: "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost." Note that twice God utters an endearing "O my people." (vv. 12, 13) |
| The last verse of this pericope celebrates the sure connection between God's promise and God's fulfillment of promise--I have spoken and I will act! |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 104:25-35, 37 (=NRSV 24-34, 35b)
Isaiah 6:1-8
| Isaiah's call took place in the year Uzziah died, ca 735. Uzziah and his contemporary Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom reigned over a time of great, but unequal prosperity. Social abuses are criticized by Amos in the north and Isaiah in the south. |
| Isaiah's vision takes him to Yahweh's heavenly temple. The deity was surrounded by six-winged seraphs: one pair was used to cover their faces and one pair to cover their feet = genitals. With one pair they flew. |
| The antiphonal heavenly choir affirmed two things about Yahweh: 1. Yahweh is completely separate/transcendent (holy); the fullness of the world is God's "glory." "Holy" is what God is in Godself; what we see of God is called God's glory. |
| Isaiah confesses his and the people's uncleanness (note that he does not have a "holier than thou" attitude). Their lips are unclean because of what they have eaten or what they have said. Isaiah is aware of this uncleanness because he has seen Yahweh. |
| In vv 6-7 a seraph takes a hot coal from the heavenly altar and cauterizes Isaiah's lips. He is thereby assured of forgiveness. |
| In the midst of the heavenly council Yahweh asks who will go for "us" (the members of the heavenly council). Isaiah responds, "Here am I, send me." |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 29
Job 38:1-11
| After the long discussion between Job and his "friends" and the soporific words of Elihu in chs. 32-37, we finally arrive at the divine speeches, which many people believe are at the heart of the message of Job. The response to the question of suffering, however, is not direct. Many readers are frustrated, even angered by the seeming irrelevance of God's response. God's power had never been in question. It is not Job's humanity that is questioned, but his lack of wisdom (v. 2). |
| Yahweh confronts Job and asks him whether he was present at creation and whether he understands the power and wisdom of God. The name Yahweh is only used in the divine speeches and in the prose prologue and epilogue. |
| The picture of the earth is that of a flat disk resting on underground pillars or mountains, or it is a great building that God constructs. God's creative acts were accompanied by cheers and celebrations by members of the divine council. |
| In vv. 8-11 God raises the question of the sea, which in the Canaanite world was an unruly deity. God was able to keep the dangerous sea within bounds. The sea could break out if it were not contained. God is the midwife who gives birth to the sea. Carol Newsom writes: "Far from being a hostile, alien power [the sea] is associated with the vigor of new life, and the restraints placed upon it are associated with nurture and protection." and: "God not only has to persuade Job of the fundamental reliability of the structures of creation, but also simultaneously has to persuade him to recognize the chaotic as a part of the design of creation." |
| This divine speech raises the possibility that not everything is explained by cause and effect or the doctrine of retribution. If Job cannot understand creation, it is not surprising that he can't understand something like innocent suffering. |
| The second divine speech, beginning in ch. 40, presents God as vulnerable, also struggling with questions of evil. God is able to contain Behemoth and Leviathan, but not able (yet) to fully master them. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
Lamentations 3:22-33
| Lamentations was written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Chapters 1-4 are in acrostic form. That is, every verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3, three verses begin with aleph, three with beth, etc. The laments express sorrow, anger, and pain, but the section assigned for this Sunday brims with hope. |
| God's loyalty and motherly mercies never come to an end. Better yet, they are new and fresh each morning (v. 23). The poet expects mercy to come like the rising of the sun. One waits quietly for God's victory on my behalf--usually translated "salvation." |
| There are a number of "faith" words in this pericope. I will hope in God, v. 24; those who wait for God, and the person who seeks God, v. 25. |
| Verses 27-30 urge people to submit patiently to suffering and to accept it as God's punishment. This is a text to argue with. When is this good advice? When does it sound like Job's "friends"? |
| Part of the argument comes within the text! Yahweh will not reject forever, v. 31. Yahweh does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone, v. 33.The bottom line is the abundance of God's loyalty (my substitute translation for "steadfast love"). God's love wins out over God's wrath! |
The Psalm for the day is Psalm 30
Ezekiel 2:1-5
| This pericope is part of the call narrative of the prophet. Chapter 1 was a fantastic theophany that showed that God was really there, where Ezekiel was, in Babylon. |
| The prophet Ezekiel is usually addressed by God as "mortal" (son of man), emphasizing the gap between himself and God. The name Ezekiel actually appears only in 1:1 and 24:24. Ezekiel is set on his feet since he had fallen on his face in 1:28. |
| Ezekiel is given a very difficult assignment. He was called in 593, seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and his message from then until the fall was that Jerusalem had to be destroyed because of its sinfulness, described here as rebellion and transgression. To the people Ezekiel is to deliver a series of divine oracles--Thus says Yahweh. |
| Success is not the criterion of faithfulness. Ezekiel is to deliver God's message and the people will at least know that a prophet has been among them. This last line is a variation on a form that appears some 90 times in Ezekiel: They will know that I am Yahweh. It appears in three contexts: a. after words of judgment; b. after oracles against the nations; and c. after words of hope. The final goal in all of God's interactions with humanity is the recognition of his lordship. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 123
Amos 7:7-15
| Amos 7:1-9; 8:1-3; and 9:1-4 are a series of five visions seen by the prophet. Amos 7:10-17 describes his famous confrontation with Amaziah at the sanctuary at Bethel. This week's pericope includes the third vision and the first five verses of the Amaziah story. This omits Amos's strong words of judgment against Amaziah, which indicate the dire consequences of the government trying to muzzle prophetic critique. Amaziah indicated the land was not able to bear all of the prophet's words (7:10); apparently they were too much for the committee that picked this pericope too. |
| In the first two visions, the prophet intercedes when he is shown the impending judgment: forgive, I beg you (v. 2) and cease, I beg you (v. 5). In both cases Yahweh responded positively to this intercession and did not carry out the punishment. |
| The third vision is traditionally understood to deal with a plumbline, but the other four visions all deal with depictions of Yahweh's judgment. I favor those who believe that the word translated plumbline should actually be rendered "tin"!. Copper and tin together made bronze, the metal of choice for weaponry in antiquity. Hence I believe Amos saw Yahweh with a big heap of tin with tin also in his hands. Yahweh is readying a war against Israel and stockpiling a metal of mass destruction. Note that the prophet makes no intercession in visions 3-5--Israel's sin has advanced too far. |
| Verse 9 (cf. also v. 17) uses an unusual name for the people--"Isaac." This designation appears only here in the Bible. Verse also contains a correction of v. 11, which threatened that Jeroboam would die by the sword. This king, Jeroboam II, actually died in his bed. V. 9 therefore states that violence would be perpetuated on the house or descendants of Jeroboam. |
| In v. 10, Amaziah the priest reports to Jeroboam that Amos is a conspirator who cannot be tolerated. His intolerable words threatened the king with death and the people with exile. |
| Verses 12-13 report Amaziah's threat to Amos. He told Amos to flee to Judah and earn his living there. He had nothing against Amos making a living by prophecy--just not here and not now! Bethel was the king's sanctuary. No critical words are allowed here! |
| Amos's reply comes in vv. 14-17 (unfortunately truncated as noted above). The tense of the sentences in v. 14 is hotly debated. Did Amos say I am not a prophet or I was not a prophet (but now I am)? In any case his authority lay not in the title prophet, but in the fact that Yahweh had chosen him to prophesy against Israel. Amos had been a worker-prophet: a cowboy and a dresser of sycamore trees. He wasn't into prophesying because of the money! |
| Verses 16-17, not included in the pericope, are a divine oracle. Amaziah had forbidden Amos to prophesy against Israel. His second command, conventionally translated as "don't preach against the house of Isaac" should be translated as "don't drool against the house of Isaac." This indicates Amaziah's understanding that prophets like Amos were ecstatics who often went into a frenzy when they preached. |
| Verse 17 is the announcement of judgment by Amos against Amaziah. There are four words against him indicating that his wife will be shamed, his children killed, his land lost, and--most degrading for a priest--he himself would die in exile, in an unclean land. Oh, by the way, the prophet adds, Israel will go into exile, repeating what Amaziah had charged him with saying in v. 11. |
| I've often said that I would not want Amos as my pastor. He offered the people little or no hope and made a blanket charge against Israel, with no distinction in punishment between the ring leaders and the victims. Still, he is a model of a passionate concern for justice. Pastors who preach on this text may understand why the pericope pickers omitted v. 17--it is very rough--but they should not tone down their own passion for justice. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 85:8-13.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
| Verses 1-4 have a judgment oracle against unfaithful rulers (shepherds) and a promise that God will raise up faithful rulers (shepherds). |
| The shepherds are criticized for scattering God's sheep and not caring for them. Just as they have not attended to the sheep, God will attend to (=punish) them. |
| Verse 3 is God's promise to bring Israel back from exile. On their return they will be fruitful and multiply, living up to the command/promise given at creation: Be fruitful and multiply. |
| Verses 5-6 are a messianic promise. The term "righteous branch" might also be translated "legitimate branch," hinting that the present puppet king Zedekiah is illegitimate in the prophet's eyes. He shall rule as king and deal wisely--again the opposite of what Zedekiah is and does. Kings were expected to defend the public good--execute justice and righteousness. |
| He will be king over a reunited Israel = Judah and Israel. To mark his new status he will be given a new name: The Lord is our righteousness, or better: Yahweh is the source of our vindication. In other words, the messiah's name indicates where the real hope lies--in God. Yahweh is the source of our vindication = Yahweh zidqenu in Hebrew. These two words are in reverse order from the elements in the name Zedekiah = zidqi yahu. In other words, again, the messiah will be the direct opposite of Zedekiah. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 23.
2 Kings 4:42-44
| The OT reading is chosen with any eye on John 6:1-21, the feeding of the 5,000. Note that readings from John 6 appear for five Sundays in a row. |
| Note also that miracles appear primarily at three points in the Bible--the Exodus from Egypt, the Elijah and Elisha stories, and the ministry of Jesus and the early church. Miracles have a way of saying: something important is happening here! |
| The location of Baal-shalishah is uncertain. It seems to have been a very productive location even during a famine. |
| One of Elisha's servants doubts that twenty loaves of barley is enough to feed 100 people. Elisha, however, trusts the promise of Yahweh and overrules his servant. The miracle vindicates Elisha's trust. The figures are modest in comparison with the feeding of the 5,000. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 145:10-19
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
| This pericope is part of the "murmuring tradition" in Exodus, in which people who had experienced the Exodus complained that the good old days of slavery in Egypt were better. |
| Note that the complaint is against Moses and Aaron, the two leaders of the community. The glory of Yahweh is a characteristic expression of the divine theophany in the priestly narrative. God promises to send both meat (quail) and bread (manna). |
| The question "what is it" (manna) is answered by Moses: "This is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat." |
| This bread of heaven has an echo in our eucharistic bread. The gospel for the day continues the reading from John 6, the feeding of the 5,000. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 78:23-29.
1 Kgs 19:4-8
| For the third straight Sunday, the Gospel is from John 6 (in this case, vv. 35, 41-51) |
| The prophet Elijah is on a journey to Mt. Horeb (= Sinai), where Yahweh will appear in the still small voice (1 Kgs 19:12). Elijah is fleeing for his life because of the vow of Jezebel to kill him (v. 2). Elijah asked to die because he did not feel up to the task of leading Israel. |
| An angel woke him up and ordered him to eat a cake baked on hot stones and to drink water. Cf. 1 Kgs 17:4-6. He complied and fell asleep, only to have the angel awaken him a second time and repeat the order to eat because of the strenuous journey that lay ahead. |
| Elijah then went on a journey of forty days and forty nights (cf. Moses at Exod 24:18; 34:28), apparently with no additional food or drink along the way. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 34:1-8
Proverbs 9:1-6
| For the fourth straight Sunday, the Gospel is from John 6 (in this case, vv. 51-58). |
| The Old Testament lesson speaks about personified wisdom, one of many passages contributing to the development of early Christology and an important "feminine side" of God. |
| Personified wisdom invites her guests to a lush banquet. Her invitation is open to all, but also encourages dramatic change: forsake foolishness and live! The slogan "God loves us unconditionally" is only half right. God loves us with the expectation and hope that love will transform us into believing and righteous people. |
| Themes adumbrated in this pericope: Christ the wisdom of God; Eucharist (eat of my bread and drink of my wine); mission; openness to others. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 34:9-14.
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
| For the fifth straight Sunday, the Gospel is from John 6 (in this case vv. 56-69) |
| This is a portion of the second farewell speech of Joshua. For the first see Joshua 23. |
| The first part of the pericope introduces the speech of Joshua. The verses omitted in this pericope describe the history of the patriarchs and matriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, and the gift of the land. |
| In vv. 14-18 Joshua draws the consequences of God's gracious and liberating actions. Verse 14 admits that Israel's ancestors had worshipped gods other than Yahweh. Joshua puts himself and his household on the line in v. 15. |
| In vv. 16-18 the people gladly join themselves to Joshua's strong confession. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 34:15-22
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
| This portion of a sermon by Moses was originally intended to address the concerns of Israel in its exile. Note especially the conclusion to the sermon in vv. 25-31 where loss of land is threatened, but where repentance is also promised. God will not forget the covenant he made with Israel's ancestors. |
| The portion of the sermon included in this pericope is urgent, but not terribly specific in what it urges. The statutes and ordinances follow in chapters 12-26: centralization of the worship site; prohibition against other gods; etc. |
| Deuteronomy advocates retribution theology--obedience will be followed by blessing (in the land) and disobedience will be followed by dire consequences, such as loss of the land. |
| Following God is viewed as wisdom and as a witness to the nations (v. 6). Yahweh and Israel are incomparable. God is approachable in prayer and can be easily reached. His statutes and ordinances are just--unlike those presumably of other nations and other gods. |
| Israel is to remember what it has seen in the Exodus and in the journey to Sinai, and is to teach these truths to the next generation. |
| Note that vv. 21-24, not part of the pericope, indicate that Moses was barred from entering the land because Yahweh was angry with him because of Israel's sin. Moses suffers as their substitute. The merciful God (v. 31) is also a jealous God (v. 24). |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 15.
Isaiah 35:4-7a
| This passage enunciates themes very close to those in Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55). |
| The strong words of encouragement in v. 4 flow from the fact that God will appear in order to save. The translation in the second half of v. 4 in NRSV needs correction. Instead of vengeance and terrible recompense I would read: He will come to exercise divine lordship, with God's own requital. This sets up the last line of the verse: God will come to save you! |
| Note the social dimensions of the good news in vv. 5-6: blind will see, lame will leap, the speechless will sing for joy. God's salvation is for the whole person. The gospel is Good News for our bad situations. |
| Verse 7 gives this an environmental dimension. The sere desert will be well watered; the place where only wild animals roam will become luxuriant grass. The pericope actually includes only the first half of the verse. |
| We have too often limited salvation only to the remission of sins. God comes to address whatever keeps us short of the potentials of our created humanity. |
| The gospel for the day, Mark 7:24-37, is miracle stories with a social/physical dimension. Jesus casts a demon out of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, who would not let Jesus go without obtaining a blessing. In the second half of the lesson, Jesus cures a deaf and speechless man. Jesus fulfills the eschatological expectations present in Isaiah 35. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 146.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
| This passage is the third of the Servant Songs in Second Isaiah. The servant (whether a personified Israel or the prophet himself) speaks in the first person. |
| Verses 4-5 present the servant as an attentive listener, who does not rebel against the message he receives. His message to others is supportive, sustaining the weary with a word. |
| Verse 6 shows that the servant has been persecuted--people have struck him on the back, pulled out the hair of his beard, and spat in his face. This can be interpreted as the fate of the prophet, or it can symbolize what Israel experienced in the destruction of Jerusalem and its exile from the land. |
| Verses 7-9a portray a defiant servant. Because of God's help, the servant has not been disgraced, and in fact he challenges his opponents to contend with him. Because of God's help, he knows he will be declared innocent. Verse 9b is left out, apparently because it states that the servant's foes will be eaten up by moths. |
| The servant's role emphasizes one important response to suffering (of many). That is, to trust God in spite of it all and receive God's vindication. No wonder, that early Christians saw in Jesus' crucifixion such a steadfast trust in God followed by vindication in Christ's resurrection. Not also that verse 10b continues this theme: the servant walks in darkness yet trusts in the name of Yahweh. |
| The Gospel, Mark 8:27-38, is the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Note v. 31, which describes the suffering of the Son of Man and his ultimate vindication. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 116:1-8.
Jer 11:18-20
| Jeremiah contains a series of laments that are commonly known as his "confessions." In them he brings his complaints about his vocation to God in frank and often angry outbursts. He also finds reassurance in God's trustworthy promises. See also 12:1-6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18. |
| In v. 18 Jeremiah claims that Yahweh had made known to him the evil schemings of his opponents. These opponents seek his demise, hoping for his death and the eradication of his memory from the earth. |
| Verse 20 expresses Jeremiah's strong faith in Yahweh, but it also contains his disturbing wish that Yahweh should punish his enemies appropriately for their misdeeds. The good news about such a wish is that it shows Jeremiah trusted God enough to tell God exactly what was on his mind. |
| Verses 21-23 are also part of this confession. In an oracle, Yahweh responds to Jeremiah's complaint about his adversaries in his home town of Anathoth. They had forbidden Jeremiah to prophesy. Yahweh promises swift judgment on these opponents. Young men will die by the sword and their children will die by famine. Both of these are images of the war that Babylon is about to wage on Judah. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 54
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
| The excerpts from Numbers 11 are part of the murmuring motif in the wilderness period. There is a thin line between bringing one's complaint to God in faith (as by Jeremiah in last Sunday's lesson) and merely being a theological whiner. |
| The rabble rousers gripe about the boring manna they have to eat and long for the fish, vegetables, fruit, and spices they enjoyed (during their slavery) in Egypt. Manna of course is a lot better than starvation! |
| These complaints call forth anger from Yahweh and Moses. Like Jeremiah, Moses complains about his office as leader of Israel during the Exodus period. In v. 12 Moses compares himself to a mother in his role as Israel's leader. Moses finds himself unable to bear this burden. If this is the way Yahweh is going to treat Moses, he would just as soon be put to death by Yahweh at once. Won't Yahweh do that in his mercy? |
| In v. 16, Yahweh instructs Moses to delegate! He is to pick seventy elders to assist him in his tasks. |
| Yahweh takes some of the spirit that was on Moses and puts it on the elders. For the time being they carried on charismatic activities, that is, they prophesied. |
| Meanwhile two men named Eldad and Medad also got the spirit, even though they had not been chosen to assist Moses, and they also prophesied. Joshua, the eventual successor to Moses, asks Moses to stop these unauthorized people. Moses rebukes him for trying to control the spirit of Yahweh. He wishes that all of God's children would become prophets! |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 19:7-14
Genesis 2:18-24
| This excerpt from the second creation story (commonly called J) tells of Yahweh's creation of a woman out of the man's rib after the man had been created from the dust of the ground at the beginning of the story. In Genesis 1 (commonly attributed to P), God creates man and woman simultaneously. |
| Verse 18 recognizes the need for human beings to live in friendship and community. It is indeed not good for us to be alone/lonely. God wants to create a helper. Phyllis Trible pointed out some years ago that the verb help in the Old Testament is frequently used of God and therefore of the actions of a superior toward those who are inferior. Hence we should not read subservience into this promise to create a helper. |
| God created various animals and birds out of the dust of the ground and brought them to the man, who named them, thus expressing (benevolent) rule over them. But none of them qualified as an appropriate helper for the man. |
| Yahweh then put the man to sleep (cf. Gen 15:12) and took one of the man's ribs and built it into a woman. This selection of bones may also indicate equality--woman was not built from the sole of the man's foot but from his side! |
| The man recognizes the appropriateness of this creation--at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. He gives her the name Woman because she was taken from Man. In Hebrew the words sound alike--ishshah (woman) and ish (man), but they are actually linguistically unrelated to one another. |
| Verse 24 expresses the mutuality and mystery of marriage--the two become one flesh. The verse also says that because of the appropriateness of this relationship a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife. Technically, this is not how marriage worked in ancient Israel. Women left their families of origin and moved into the family of their husband. But I suppose even when a man continues to live on the old homestead he still in a sense "leaves" his parents when he gets married. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 8
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
| The prophet urges the audience to seek Yahweh in v. 6 and announces that failure to do so will lead to dire consequences: Yahweh will attack the house of Joseph (the northern kingdom, consisting primarily of the two Joseph tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) like fire and burn up Bethel, its main temple city. Not seeking Yahweh is evidenced in v. 7 by failure to practice justice. |
| Gates served as the "small claims court" in Israel. According to v. 10 people hate the person who stands up for the right in the gate. Verse 11 can be classified as a "frustration" oracle. Injustice toward the poor will lead to frustrations--fine new houses that can't be lived in, and vineyards whose wine cannot be drunk. |
| Verse 12 continues the indictment of Israel with its many sins, such as afflicting the innocent (= the righteous), taking bribes in order to pervert justice, and elbowing aside the poor. |
| Verses 14-15 return to the admonitions to seek good, to love good, and to hate evil. Yahweh the God of the heavenly armies will be with them IF the people seek the ethical life. Right now people take God for granted and expect that God will be with them no matter what. Yahweh's grace is not to be presumed upon. God's freedom is shown in the words "it may be" in v. 15. The prophet warns that repeated acts of injustice will not automatically lead to divine forgiveness. Israel has already suffered consequences for their injustice--they are now only the remnant of Joseph. |
The psalm for the day is Psalm 90:12-17.